TY - JOUR A1 - Kamann, Sebastian A1 - Husser, T. -O. A1 - Dreizler, S. A1 - Emsellem, E. A1 - Weilbacher, Peter Michael A1 - Martens, S. A1 - Bacon, R. A1 - den Brok, M. A1 - Giesers, B. A1 - Krajnovic, Davor A1 - Roth, Martin M. A1 - Wendt, Martin A1 - Wisotzki, Lutz T1 - A stellar census in globular clusters with MUSE BT - the contribution of rotation to cluster dynamics studied with 200 000 stars JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - This is the first of a series of papers presenting the results from our survey of 25 Galactic globular clusters with the MUSE integral-field spectrograph. In combination with our dedicated algorithm for source deblending, MUSE provides unique multiplex capabilities in crowded stellar fields and allows us to acquire samples of up to 20 000 stars within the half-light radius of each cluster. The present paper focuses on the analysis of the internal dynamics of 22 out of the 25 clusters, using about 500 000 spectra of 200 000 individual stars. Thanks to the large stellar samples per cluster, we are able to perform a detailed analysis of the central rotation and dispersion fields using both radial profiles and two-dimensional maps. The velocity dispersion profiles we derive show a good general agreement with existing radial velocity studies but typically reach closer to the cluster centres. By comparison with proper motion data, we derive or update the dynamical distance estimates to 14 clusters. Compared to previous dynamical distance estimates for 47 Tuc, our value is in much better agreement with other methods. We further find significant (>3 sigma) rotation in the majority (13/22) of our clusters. Our analysis seems to confirm earlier findings of a link between rotation and the ellipticities of globular clusters. In addition, we find a correlation between the strengths of internal rotation and the relaxation times of the clusters, suggesting that the central rotation fields are relics of the cluster formation that are gradually dissipated via two-body relaxation. KW - techniques: imaging spectroscopy KW - stars: kinematics and dynamics KW - globular clusters: general Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2719 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 473 IS - 4 SP - 5591 EP - 5616 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - THES A1 - Stoll, Andreas T1 - Advanced spectroscopic instruments enabled by integrated optics N2 - The aim of this work is the study of silica Arrayed Waveguide Gratings (AWGs) in the context of applications in astronomy. The specific focus lies on the investigation of the feasibility and technology limits of customized silica AWG devices for high resolution near-infrared spectroscopy. In a series of theoretical and experimental studies, AWG devices of varying geometry, foot-print and spectral resolution are constructed, simulated using a combination of a numerical beam propagation method and Fraunhofer diffraction and fabricated devices are characterized with respect to transmission efficiency, spectral resolution and polarization sensitivity. The impact of effective index non-uniformities on the performance of high-resolution AWG devices is studied numerically. Characterization results of fabricated devices are used to extrapolate the technology limits of the silica platform. The important issues of waveguide birefringence and defocus aberration are discussed theoretically and addressed experimentally by selection of an appropriate aberration-minimizing anastigmatic AWG layout structure. The drawbacks of the anastigmatic AWG geometry are discussed theoretically. From the results of the experimental studies, it is concluded that fabrication-related phase errors and waveguide birefringence are the primary limiting factors for the growth of AWG spectral resolution. It is shown that, without post-processing, the spectral resolving power is phase-error-limited to R < 40, 000 and, in the case of unpolarized light, birefringence-limited to R < 30, 000 in the AWG devices presented in this work. Necessary measures, such as special waveguide geometries and post-fabrication phase error correction are proposed for future designs. The elimination of defocus aberration using an anastigmatic AWG geometry is successfully demonstrated in experiment. Finally, a novel, non-planar dispersive in-fibre waveguide structure is proposed, discussed and studied theoretically. N2 - Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Untersuchung von Arrayed Waveguide Gratings (AWGs) auf SiO2-Basis im Kontext von Anwendungen in der Astronomie. Der besondere Fokus liegt auf der Untersuchung der Machbarkeit und der technologischen Grenzen von spezialisierten AWGs für die hochauflösende Nahinfrarot-Spektroskopie. In einer Reihe von theoretischen und experimentellen Studien werden AWGs unterschiedlicher Geometrie, Größe und spektraler Auflösung konstruiert, unter Verwendung einer numerischen Beam-Propagation-Methode (BPM) und Fraunhofer-Beugung simuliert und hinsichtlich Effizienz, spektraler Auflösung und Polarisationsempfindlichkeit charakterisiert. Der Einfluss von Variationen des effektiven Brechungsindex auf die Leistung von hochauflösenden AWGs wird numerisch untersucht. Mit hergestellten AWGs gewonnene Messergebnisse werden verwendet, um die technologischen Grenzen der SiO2-Plattform zu extrapolieren. Die relevanten Probleme der Polarisationsempfindlichkeit und der in kanonischen Rowland-Geometrien auftretenden Defokusaberration werden theoretisch diskutiert und experimentell durch die Auswahl einer geeigneten aberrationsminimierenden AWG-Struktur angegangen. Die Nachteile anastigmatischer AWGs werden theoretisch diskutiert. Aus den Ergebnissen der experimentellen Studien wird geschlossen, dass herstellungsbedingte Phasenfehler und Wellenleiter-Doppelbrechung die primären begrenzenden Faktoren für die Erhöhung der AWG-Spektralauflösung sind. Es wird gezeigt, dass das spektrale Auflösungsvermögen der in dieser Arbeit präsentierten AWGs ohne Phasenfehlerkorrektur auf R < 40, 000 und durch Doppelbrechung auf R < 30, 000 im Fall unpolarisierten Lichtes begrenzt ist. Notwendige Maßnahmen wie spezielle Wellenleitergeometrien und Phasenfehlerkorrektur nach der Herstellung werden für zukünftige AWG-Designs empfohlen. Die Eliminierung von Defokussierungsfehlern unter Verwendung einer anastigmatischen AWG-Geometrie wird erfolgreich im Experiment demonstriert. Schließlich wird eine neuartige, in eine optische Faser eingebettete, nicht-planare dispersive Wellenleiterstruktur vorgeschlagen, diskutiert und theoretisch untersucht. KW - Astrophotonics KW - Integrated spectrograph KW - planar lightwave circuit KW - arrayed waveguide grating KW - silica-on-silicon KW - Astrophotonik KW - integrierter Spektrograph KW - planare Lichtwellenleiter KW - Siliziumdioxid-auf-Silizium Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marschall, Raphael A1 - Skorov, Yuri A1 - Zakharov, Vladimir A1 - Rezac, Ladislav A1 - Gerig, Selina-Barbara A1 - Christou, Chariton A1 - Dadzie, S. Kokou A1 - Migliorini, Alessandra A1 - Rinaldi, Giovanna A1 - Agarwal, Jessica A1 - Vincent, Jean-Baptiste A1 - Kappel, David T1 - Cometary comae-surface links the physics of gas and dust from the surface to a spacecraft JF - Space science reviews N2 - A comet is a highly dynamic object, undergoing a permanent state of change. These changes have to be carefully classified and considered according to their intrinsic temporal and spatial scales. The Rosetta mission has, through its contiguous in-situ and remote sensing coverage of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (hereafter 67P) over the time span of August 2014 to September 2016, monitored the emergence, culmination, and winding down of the gas and dust comae. This provided an unprecedented data set and has spurred a large effort to connect in-situ and remote sensing measurements to the surface. In this review, we address our current understanding of cometary activity and the challenges involved when linking comae data to the surface. We give the current state of research by describing what we know about the physical processes involved from the surface to a few tens of kilometres above it with respect to the gas and dust emission from cometary nuclei. Further, we describe how complex multidimensional cometary gas and dust models have developed from the Halley encounter of 1986 to today. This includes the study of inhomogeneous outgassing and determination of the gas and dust production rates. Additionally, the different approaches used and results obtained to link coma data to the surface will be discussed. We discuss forward and inversion models and we describe the limitations of the respective approaches. The current literature suggests that there does not seem to be a single uniform process behind cometary activity. Rather, activity seems to be the consequence of a variety of erosion processes, including the sublimation of both water ice and more volatile material, but possibly also more exotic processes such as fracture and cliff erosion under thermal and mechanical stress, sub-surface heat storage, and a complex interplay of these processes. Seasons and the nucleus shape are key factors for the distribution and temporal evolution of activity and imply that the heliocentric evolution of activity can be highly individual for every comet, and generalisations can be misleading. KW - comets KW - coma KW - gas KW - dust KW - dynamics KW - modelling KW - inversion Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00744-0 SN - 0038-6308 SN - 1572-9672 VL - 216 IS - 8 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rousseau, Batiste A1 - Erard, Stéphane A1 - Beck, P. A1 - Quirico, Eric A1 - Schmitt, B. A1 - Brissaud, O. A1 - Montes-Hernandez, G. A1 - Capaccioni, F. A1 - Filacchione, Gianrico A1 - Bockelee-Morvan, Dominique A1 - Leyrat, C. A1 - Ciarniello, M. A1 - Raponi, Andrea A1 - Kappel, David A1 - Arnold, G. A1 - Moroz, L. V. A1 - Palomba, Ernesto A1 - Tosi, Federico T1 - Laboratory simulations of the Vis-NIR spectra of comet 67P using sub-mu m sized cosmochemical analogues JF - Icarus : international journal of solar system studies N2 - Laboratory spectral measurements of relevant analogue materials were performed in the framework of the Rosetta mission in order to explain the surface spectral properties of comet 67P. Fine powders of coal, iron sulphides, silicates and their mixtures were prepared and their spectra measured in the Vis-IR range. These spectra are compared to a reference spectrum of 67P nucleus obtained with the VIRTIS/Rosetta instrument up to 2.7 mu m, excluding the organics band centred at 3.2 mu m. The species used are known to be chemical analogues for cometary materials which could be present at the surface of 67P. Grain sizes of the powders range from tens of nanometres to hundreds of micrometres. Some of the mixtures studied here actually reach the very low reflectance level observed by VIRTIS on 67P. The best match is provided by a mixture of sub-micron coal, pyrrhotite, and silicates. Grain sizes are in agreement with the sizes of the dust particles detected by the GIADA, MIDAS and COSIMA instruments on board Rosetta. The coal used in the experiment is responsible for the spectral slope in the visible and infrared ranges. Pyrrhotite, which is strongly absorbing, is responsible for the low albedo observed in the NIR. The darkest components dominate the spectra, especially within intimate mixtures. Depending on sample preparation, pyrrhotite can coat the coal and silicate aggregates. Such coating effects can affect the spectra as much as particle size. In contrast, silicates seem to play a minor role. (c) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. KW - Comets KW - Comets nucleus KW - Comets composition KW - Spectroscopy KW - Experimental techniques Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2017.10.015 SN - 0019-1035 SN - 1090-2643 VL - 306 SP - 306 EP - 318 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hou, Ru A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Akimoto, Takuma T1 - Biased continuous-time random walks for ordinary and equilibrium cases BT - facilitation of diffusion, ergodicity breaking and ageing JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - We examine renewal processes with power-law waiting time distributions (WTDs) and non-zero drift via computing analytically and by computer simulations their ensemble and time averaged spreading characteristics. All possible values of the scaling exponent alpha are considered for the WTD psi(t) similar to 1/t(1+alpha). We treat continuous-time random walks (CTRWs) with 0 < alpha < 1 for which the mean waiting time diverges, and investigate the behaviour of the process for both ordinary and equilibrium CTRWs for 1 < alpha < 2 and alpha > 2. We demonstrate that in the presence of a drift CTRWs with alpha < 1 are ageing and non-ergodic in the sense of the non-equivalence of their ensemble and time averaged displacement characteristics in the limit of lag times much shorter than the trajectory length. In the sense of the equivalence of ensemble and time averages, CTRW processes with 1 < alpha < 2 are ergodic for the equilibrium and non-ergodic for the ordinary situation. Lastly, CTRW renewal processes with alpha > 2-both for the equilibrium and ordinary situation-are always ergodic. For the situations 1 < alpha < 2 and alpha > 2 the variance of the diffusion process, however, depends on the initial ensemble. For biased CTRWs with alpha > 1 we also investigate the behaviour of the ergodicity breaking parameter. In addition, we demonstrate that for biased CTRWs the Einstein relation is valid on the level of the ensemble and time averaged displacements, in the entire range of the WTD exponent alpha. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c8cp01863d SN - 1463-9076 SN - 1463-9084 VL - 20 IS - 32 SP - 20827 EP - 20848 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - THES A1 - Keles, Engin T1 - Atmospheric properties and dynamics of gaseous exoplanets inferred from high-resolution alkali line transmission spectroscopy N2 - The characterization of exoplanets applying high-resolution transmission spectroscopy ini- tiated a new era making it possible to trace atmospheric signature at high altitudes in exoplanet atmospheres and to determine atmospheric properties which enrich our under- standing of the formation and evolution of the solar system. In contrast to what is observed in our solar system, where gaseous planets orbit at wide orbits, Jupiter type exoplanets were detected in foreign stellar systems surrounding their host stars within few days, in close orbits, the so called hot- and ultra-hot Jupiters. The most well studied ones are HD209458b and HD189733b, which are the first exoplanets where absorption is detected in their atmospheres, namely from the alkali line sodium. For hot Jupiters, the resonant alkali lines are the atmospheric species with one of the strongest absorption signatures, due to their large absorption cross-section. However, al- though the alkali lines sodium and potassium were detected in low-resolution observations for various giant exoplanets, potassium was absent in different high-resolution investiga- tions in contrast to sodium. The reason for this is quite puzzling, since both alkalis have very similar physical and chemical properties (e.g. condensation and ionization proper- ties). Obtaining high-resolution transit observations of HD189733b and HD209458b, we were able to detect potassium on HD189733b (Manuscript 1), which was the first high-resolution detection of potassium on an exoplanet. The absence of potassium on HD209458b could be reasoned by depletion processes, such as condensation or photo-ionization or high-altitude clouds. In a further study (Manuscript II), we resolved the potassium line and compared this to a previously detected sodium absorption on this planet. The comparison showed, that the potassium lines are either tracing different altitudes and temperatures compared to the sodium lines, or are depleted so that the planetary Na/K- ratio is way larger than the stellar one. A comparison of the alkali lines with synthetic line profiles showed that the sodium lines were much broader than the potassium lines, probably being induced by winds. To investigate this, the effect of zonal streaming winds on the sodium lines on Jupiter-type planets is investigated in a further study (Manuscript III), showing that such winds can significantly broaden the Na- lines and that high-resolution observations can trace such winds with different properties. Furthermore, investigating the Na-line observations for different exoplanets, I showed that the Na-line broadening follows a trend with cooler planets showing stronger line broadening and so hinting on stronger winds, matching well into theoretical predictions. Each presented manuscript depends on the re- sults published within the previous manuscript, yielding a unitary study of the exoplanet HD189733b. The investigation of the potassium absorption required to account for different effects: The telluric lines removal and the effect of center-to-limb variation (see Manuscript I), the residual Rossiter-Mc-Laughlin effect (see Manuscript II) and the broadening of spectral lines on a translucent atmospheric ring by zonal jet streams (see Manuscript III). This thesis shows that high-resolution transmission spectroscopy is a powerful tool to probe sharp alkali line absorption on giant exoplanet atmospheres and to investigate on the properties and dynamics of hot Jupiter type atmospheres. KW - planets and satellites: atmospheres KW - planets and satellites: composition KW - planets and satellites: gaseous planets KW - exoplanets Y1 - 2021 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. A1 - Thapa, Samudrajit A1 - Mardoukhi, Yousof A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei V. A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Time averages and their statistical variation for the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process BT - Role of initial particle distributions and relaxation to stationarity JF - Physical review : E, Statistical, nonlinear and soft matter physics N2 - How ergodic is diffusion under harmonic confinements? How strongly do ensemble- and time-averaged displacements differ for a thermally-agitated particle performing confined motion for different initial conditions? We here study these questions for the generic Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) process and derive the analytical expressions for the second and fourth moment. These quantifiers are particularly relevant for the increasing number of single-particle tracking experiments using optical traps. For a fixed starting position, we discuss the definitions underlying the ensemble averages. We also quantify effects of equilibrium and nonequilibrium initial particle distributions onto the relaxation properties and emerging nonequivalence of the ensemble- and time-averaged displacements (even in the limit of long trajectories). We derive analytical expressions for the ergodicity breaking parameter quantifying the amplitude scatter of individual time-averaged trajectories, both for equilibrium and outof-equilibrium initial particle positions, in the entire range of lag times. Our analytical predictions are in excellent agreement with results of computer simulations of the Langevin equation in a parabolic potential. We also examine the validity of the Einstein relation for the ensemble- and time-averaged moments of the OU-particle. Some physical systems, in which the relaxation and nonergodic features we unveiled may be observable, are discussed. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.98.022134 SN - 2470-0045 SN - 2470-0053 VL - 98 IS - 2 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schaerer, Daniel A1 - Izotov, Yuri I. A1 - Nakajima, K. A1 - Worseck, Gabor A1 - Chisholm, J. A1 - Verhamme, A. A1 - Thuan, T. X. A1 - de Barros, S. T1 - Intense C III] lambda lambda 1907,1909 emission from a strong Lyman continuum emitting galaxy JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - We have obtained the first complete ultraviolet (UV) spectrum of a strong Lyman continuum (LyC) emitter at low redshift - the compact, low-metallicity, star-forming galaxy J1154+2443 - with a Lyman continuum escape fraction of 46% discovered recently. The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph spectrum shows strong Ly alpha and C III] lambda 1909 emission, as well as O III] lambda 1666. Our observations show that strong LyC emitters can have UV emission lines with a high equivalent width (e.g. EW(C III]) = 11.7 +/- 2.9 angstrom rest-frame), although their equivalent widths should be reduced due to the loss of ionizing photons. The intrinsic ionizing photon production efficiency of J1154+2443 is high, log(xi(0)(ion)) = 25.56 erg(-1) Hz, comparable to that of other recently discovered z similar to 0.3-0.4 LyC emitters. Combining our measurements and earlier determinations from the literature, we find a trend of increasing xi(0)(ion) with increasing C III] lambda 1909 equivalent width, which can be understood by a combination of decreasing stellar population age and metallicity. Simple ionization and density-bounded photoionization models can explain the main observational features including the UV spectrum of J1154+2443. KW - galaxies: starburst KW - galaxies: high-redshift KW - dark ages, reionization, first stars KW - ultraviolet: galaxies Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833823 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 616 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Battistoni, A. A1 - Dürr, H. A. A1 - Gühr, Markus A1 - Wolf, Thomas J. A. T1 - A tilted pulse-front setup for femtosecond transient grating spectroscopy in highly non-collinear geometries JF - Journal of optics N2 - We demonstrate a tilted pulse-front transient grating (TG) technique that allows to optimally utilize time resolution as well as TG line density while probing under grazing incidence as typically done in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) or soft x-ray (SXR) experiments. Our optical setup adapts the pulse front tilt of the two pulses that create the TG to the grazing incident pulse. We demonstrate the technique using all 800 nm femtosecond laser pulses for TG generation on a vanadium dioxide film. We probe that grating via diffraction of a third 800 nm pulse. The time resolution of 90 fs is an improvement by a factor of 30 compared to our previous experiments on the same system. The scheme paves the way for EUV and SXR probing of optically induced TGs on any material. KW - transient grating spectroscopy KW - ultrafast spectroscopy KW - pulse front matching Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/2040-8986/aad60a SN - 2040-8978 SN - 2040-8986 VL - 20 IS - 9 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bustamante, Sebastian A1 - Sparre, Martin A1 - Springel, Volker A1 - Grand, Robert J. J. T1 - Merger-induced metallicity dilution in cosmological galaxy formation simulations JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - Observational studies have revealed that galaxy pairs tend to have lower gas-phase metallicity than isolated galaxies. This metallicity deficiency can be caused by inflows of low-metallicity gas due to the tidal forces and gravitational torques associated with galaxy mergers, diluting the metal content of the central region. In this work we demonstrate that such metallicity dilution occurs in state-of-the-art cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. We find that the dilution is typically 0.1 dex for major mergers, and is noticeable at projected separations smaller than 40 kpc. For minor mergers the metallicity dilution is still present, even though the amplitude is significantly smaller. Consistent with previous analysis of observed galaxies we find that mergers are outliers from the fundamental metallicity relation, with deviations being larger than expected for a Gaussian distribution of residuals. Our large sample of mergers within full cosmological simulations also makes it possible to estimate how the star formation rate enhancement and gas consumption timescale behave as a function of the merger mass ratio. We confirm that strong starbursts are likely to occur in major mergers, but they can also arise in minor mergers if more than two galaxies are participating in the interaction, a scenario that has largely been ignored in previous work based on idealised isolated merger simulations. KW - methods: numerical KW - galaxies: interactions KW - galaxies: star formation KW - galaxies: evolution Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1692 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 479 IS - 3 SP - 3381 EP - 3392 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cecchini, Gloria A1 - Thiel, Marco A1 - Schelter, Björn A1 - Sommerlade, Linda T1 - Improving network inference BT - the impact of false positive and false negative conclusions about the presence or absence of links JF - Journal of neuroscience methods N2 - Background: A reliable inference of networks from data is of key interest in the Neurosciences. Several methods have been suggested in the literature to reliably determine links in a network. To decide about the presence of links, these techniques rely on statistical inference, typically controlling the number of false positives, paying little attention to false negatives. New method: In this paper, by means of a comprehensive simulation study, we analyse the influence of false positive and false negative conclusions about the presence or absence of links in a network on the network topology. We show that different values to balance false positive and false negative conclusions about links should be used in order to reliably estimate network characteristics. We propose to run careful simulation studies prior to making potentially erroneous conclusion about the network topology. Results: Our analysis shows that optimal values to balance false positive and false negative conclusions about links depend on the network topology and characteristic of interest. Comparison with existing methods: Existing methods rely on a choice of the rate for false positive conclusions. They aim to be sure about individual links rather than the entire network. The rate of false negative conclusions is typically not investigated. Conclusions: Our investigation shows that the balance of false positive and false negative conclusions about links in a network has to be tuned for any network topology that is to be estimated. Moreover, within the same network topology, the results are qualitatively the same for each network characteristic, but the actual values leading to reliable estimates of the characteristics are different. KW - Network inference KW - Node degree distribution KW - False positive KW - False negative KW - Statistical inference Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2018.06.011 SN - 0165-0270 SN - 1872-678X VL - 307 SP - 31 EP - 36 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heintz, Kasper Elm A1 - Watson, D. A1 - Jakobsson, P. A1 - Fynbo, J. P. U. A1 - Bolmer, J. A1 - Arabsalmani, M. A1 - Cano, Zach A1 - Covino, S. A1 - Gomboc, A. A1 - Japelj, J. A1 - Kaper, L. A1 - Krogager, J. -K. A1 - Pugliese, G. A1 - Sanchez-Ramirez, R. A1 - Selsing, J. A1 - Sparre, Martin A1 - Tanvir, N. R. A1 - Thone, C. C. A1 - de Ugarte Postigo, A. A1 - Vergani, S. D. T1 - Highly ionized metals as probes of the circumburst gas in the natal regions of gamma-ray bursts JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We present here a survey of high-ionization absorption lines in the afterglow spectra of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) obtained with the VLT/X-shooter spectrograph. Our main goal is to investigate the circumburst medium in the natal regions of GRBs. Our primary focus is on the N vλλ 1238, 1242 line transitions, but we also discuss other high-ionization lines such as O vi, C iv, and Si iv. We find no correlation between the column density of N v and the neutral gas properties such as metallicity, H i column density, and dust depletion; however, the relative velocity of N v, typically a blueshift with respect to the neutral gas, is found to be correlated with the column density of H i. This may be explained if the N v gas is part of an H ii region hosting the GRB, where the region’s expansion is confined by dense, neutral gas in the GRB’s host galaxy. We find tentative evidence (at 2σ significance) that the X-ray derived column density, NH, X, may be correlated with the column density of N v, which would indicate that both measurements are sensitive to the column density of the gas located in the vicinity of the GRB. We investigate the scenario where N v (and also O vi) is produced by recombination after the corresponding atoms have been stripped entirely of their electrons by the initial prompt emission, in contrast to previous models where highly ionized gas is produced by photoionization from the GRB afterglow. KW - gamma-ray bursts: general KW - ISM: abundances Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1447 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 479 IS - 3 SP - 3456 EP - 3476 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lebiga, O. A1 - Santos-Lima, Reinaldo A1 - Yan, Huirong T1 - Kinetic-MHD simulations of gyroresonance instability driven by CR pressure anisotropy JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - The transport of cosmic rays (CRs) is crucial for the understanding of almost all high-energy phenomena. Both pre-existing large-scale magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence and locally generated turbulence through plasma instabilities are important for the CR propagation in astrophysical media. The potential role of the resonant instability triggered by CR pressure anisotropy to regulate the parallel spatial diffusion of low-energy CRs (less than or similar to 100 GeV) in the interstellar and intracluster medium of galaxies has been shown in previous theoretical works. This work aims to study the gyroresonance instability via direct numerical simulations, in order to access quantitatively the wave-particle scattering rates. For this, we employ a 1D PIC-MHD code to follow the growth and saturation of the gyroresonance instability. We extract from the simulations the pitch-angle diffusion coefficient D-mu mu produced by the instability during the linear and saturation phases, and a very good agreement (within a factor of 3) is found with the values predicted by the quasi-linear theory (QLT). Our results support the applicability of the QLT for modelling the scattering of low-energy CRs by the gyroresonance instability in the complex interplay between this instability and the large-scale MHD turbulence. KW - MHD KW - plasmas KW - turbulence KW - cosmic rays Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty309 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 476 IS - 2 SP - 2779 EP - 2791 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - El-Nagar, Gumaa A. A1 - Lauermann, Iver A1 - Sarhan, Radwan Mohamed A1 - Roth, Christina T1 - Hierarchically structured iron-doped silver (Ag-Fe) lotus flowers for an efficient oxygen reduction reaction JF - Nanoscale N2 - The development of cheap and efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is vital for the immediate commercialization of fuel cells which are still limited by the high cost and low performance of the utilized commercial Pt-based electrodes. As a promising alternative, this study reports on the synthesis of hierarchical iron-doped silver lotus flowers (AgFelotus) by a facile chemical procedure as robust and efficient ORR electrocatalysts. Succinic acid was used as a structure directing agent to tune the morphology of undoped and iron-doped silver particles. In the absence of succinic acid, ball-like silver particles were obtained, while using 2 mM succinic acid led to peony-like flower structures. The doping of silver peony-flowers with iron resulted in lotus-like flower structures with high electrocatalytic activity for ORR together with outstanding tolerance against poisoning with various hydrocarbon (HC) impurities, in situ generated during fuel cell operation, as well as different fuels from anodic crossover. AgFelotus exhibited a superior ORR activity with more than 40 times higher stability than the commercial Pt/C catalyst in alkaline media. This substantial performance enhancement is attributed to the unique lotus-like flower structures providing more electroactive surface sites, in addition to the iron dopants which facilitate ORR charge transfer. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c8nr00020d SN - 2040-3364 SN - 2040-3372 VL - 10 IS - 15 SP - 7304 EP - 7310 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, Heshou A1 - Yan, Huirong A1 - Richter, Philipp T1 - The influence of atomic alignment on absorption and emission spectroscopy JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - Spectroscopic observations play essential roles in astrophysics. They are crucial for determining physical parameters in our Universe, providing information about the chemistry of various astronomical environments. The proper execution of the spectroscopic analysis requires accounting for all the physical effects that are compatible to the signal-to-noise ratio. We find in this paper the influence on spectroscopy from the atomic/ground state alignment owing to anisotropic radiation and modulated by interstellar magnetic field, has significant impact on the study of interstellar gas. In different observational scenarios, we comprehensively demonstrate how atomic alignment influences the spectral analysis and provide the expressions for correcting the effect. The variations are even more pronounced for multiplets and line ratios. We show the variation of the deduced physical parameters caused by the atomic alignment effect, including alpha-to-iron ratio ([X/Fe]) and ionization fraction. Synthetic observations are performed to illustrate the visibility of such effect with current facilities. A study of Photodissociation regions in rho Ophiuchi cloud is presented to demonstrate how to account for atomic alignment in practice. Our work has shown that due to its potential impact, atomic alignment has to be included in an accurate spectroscopic analysis of the interstellar gas with current observational capability. KW - magnetic fields KW - submillimetre: ISM KW - ultraviolet: ISM KW - ISM: abundances KW - ISM: lines and bands KW - techniques: spectroscopic Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1594 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 479 IS - 3 SP - 3923 EP - 3935 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Tobias M. A1 - Hennawi, Joseph F. A1 - Worseck, Gabor A1 - Davies, Frederick B. A1 - Lukic, Zarija A1 - Oñorbe, Jose T1 - Modeling the HeII transverse proximity effect BT - constraints on quasar lifetime and obscuration JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - The He II transverse proximity effect-enhanced He II Ly alpha transmission in a background sightline caused by the ionizing radiation of a foreground quasar-offers a unique opportunity to probe the emission properties of quasars, in particular the emission geometry (obscuration, beaming) and the quasar lifetime. Building on the foreground quasar survey published in Schmidt et al., we present a detailed model of the He II transverse proximity effect, specifically designed to include light travel time effects, finite quasar ages, and quasar obscuration. We postprocess outputs from a cosmological hydrodynamical simulation with a fluctuating He II ultraviolet background model, with the added effect of the radiation from a single bright foreground quasar. We vary the age t(age) and obscured sky fractions Omega(obsc) of the foreground quasar, and explore the resulting effect on the He II transverse proximity effect signal. Fluctuations in intergalactic medium density and the ultraviolet background, as well as the unknown orientation of the foreground quasar, result in a large variance of the He II Ly alpha transmission along the background sightline. We develop a fully Bayesian statistical formalism to compare far-ultraviolet He II Ly alpha transmission spectra of the background quasars to our models, and extract joint constraints on t(age) and Omega(obsc) for the six Schmidt et al. foreground quasars with the highest implied He II photoionization rates. Our analysis suggests a bimodal distribution of quasar emission properties, whereby one foreground quasar, associated with a strong He II transmission spike, is relatively old (22 Myr) and unobscured (Omega(obsc) < 35%), whereas three others are either younger than 10 Myr or highly obscured (Omega(obsc) > 70%). KW - dark ages, reionization, first stars KW - intergalactic medium KW - quasars: general Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aac8e4 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 861 IS - 2 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yang, Jie A1 - Zhu, Xiaolei A1 - Wolf, Thomas J. A. A1 - Li, Zheng A1 - Nunes, João Pedro Figueira A1 - Coffee, Ryan A1 - Cryan, James P. A1 - Gühr, Markus A1 - Hegazy, Kareem A1 - Heinz, Tony F. A1 - Jobe, Keith A1 - Li, Renkai A1 - Shen, Xiaozhe A1 - Veccione, Theodore A1 - Weathersby, Stephen A1 - Wilkin, Kyle J. A1 - Yoneda, Charles A1 - Zheng, Qiang A1 - Martinez, Todd J. A1 - Centurion, Martin A1 - Wang, Xijie T1 - Imaging CF3I conical intersection and photodissociation dynamics with ultrafast electron diffraction JF - Science N2 - Conical intersections play a critical role in excited-state dynamics of polyatomic molecules because they govern the reaction pathways of many nonadiabatic processes. However, ultrafast probes have lacked sufficient spatial resolution to image wave-packet trajectories through these intersections directly. Here, we present the simultaneous experimental characterization of one-photon and two-photon excitation channels in isolated CF3I molecules using ultrafast gas-phase electron diffraction. In the two-photon channel, we have mapped out the real-space trajectories of a coherent nuclear wave packet, which bifurcates onto two potential energy surfaces when passing through a conical intersection. In the one-photon channel, we have resolved excitation of both the umbrella and the breathing vibrational modes in the CF3 fragment in multiple nuclear dimensions. These findings benchmark and validate ab initio nonadiabatic dynamics calculations. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat0049 SN - 0036-8075 SN - 1095-9203 VL - 361 IS - 6397 SP - 64 EP - 67 PB - American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ohm, Stefan A1 - Hoischen, Clemens T1 - On the expected gamma-ray emission from nearby flaring stars JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - Stellar flares have been extensively studied in soft X-rays (SXRs) by basically every X-ray mission. Hard X-ray (HXR) emission from stellar superflares, however, have only been detected from a handful of objects over the past years. One very extreme event was the superflare from the young M-dwarf DGCVn binary star system, which triggered Swift/BAT as if it was a gamma-ray burst. In this work, we estimate the expected gamma-ray emission from DGCVn and the most extreme stellar flares by extrapolating from solar flares based on measured solar energetic particles (SEPs), as well as thermal and non-thermal emission properties. We find that ions are plausibly accelerated in stellar superflares to 100 GeV energies, and possibly up to TeV energies in the associated coronal mass ejections. The corresponding pi(0)-decay gamma-ray emission could be detectable from stellar superflares with ground-based gamma-ray telescopes. On the other hand, the detection of gamma-ray emission implies particle densities high enough that ions suffer significant losses due to inelastic proton-proton scattering. The next-generation Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) should be able to probe superflares from M dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood and constrain the energy in interacting cosmic rays and/or their maximum energy. The detection of gamma-ray emission from stellar flares would open a new window for the study of stellar physics, the underlying physical processes in flares and their impact on habitability of planetary systems. KW - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal KW - stars: flare KW - stars: individual: DGCVn-gamma rays: stars Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2806 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 474 IS - 1 SP - 1335 EP - 1341 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Benini, Marco A1 - Schenkel, Alexander A1 - Schreiber, Urs T1 - The Stack of Yang-Mills Fields on Lorentzian Manifolds JF - Communications in mathematical physics N2 - We provide an abstract definition and an explicit construction of the stack of non-Abelian Yang-Mills fields on globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifolds. We also formulate a stacky version of the Yang-Mills Cauchy problem and show that its well-posedness is equivalent to a whole family of parametrized PDE problems. Our work is based on the homotopy theoretical approach to stacks proposed in Hollander (Isr. J. Math. 163:93-124, 2008), which we shall extend by further constructions that are relevant for our purposes. In particular, we will clarify the concretification of mapping stacks to classifying stacks such as BG (con). Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-018-3120-1 SN - 0010-3616 SN - 1432-0916 VL - 359 IS - 2 SP - 765 EP - 820 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koopman, Wouter-Willem Adriaan A1 - Muccini, Michele A1 - Toffanin, Stefano T1 - High-resolution photoluminescence electro-modulation microscopy by scanning lock-in JF - Review of scientific instruments : a monthly journal devoted to scientific instruments, apparatus, and techniques N2 - Morphological inhomogeneities and structural defects in organic semiconductors crucially determine the charge accumulation and lateral transport in organic thin-film transistors. Photoluminescence Electro-Modulation (PLEM) microscopy is a laser-scanning microscopy technique that relies on the modulation of the thin-film fluorescence in the presence of charge-carriers to image the spatial distribution of charges within the active organic semiconductor. Here, we present a lock-in scheme based on a scanning beam approach for increasing the PLEM microscopy resolution and contrast. The charge density in the device is modulated by a sinusoidal electrical signal, phase-locked to the scanning beam of the excitation laser. The lock-in detection scheme is achieved by acquiring a series of images with different phases between the beam scan and the electrical modulation. Application of high resolution PLEM to an organic transistor in accumulation mode demonstrates its potential to image local variations in the charge accumulation. A diffraction-limited precision of sub-300 nm and a signal to noise ratio of 21.4 dB could be achieved. Published by AIP Publishing. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5010281 SN - 0034-6748 SN - 1089-7623 VL - 89 IS - 4 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville ER -